Mind What You Think
by Demerite
Summary: On a planet full of telapathic aliens, Rose finds out something she'd rather have not know about her travelling companions.


The sky was a brilliant shade of mauve, and the bright gold sun shone down on the three figures making their way away from the blue box. The first, a tall, hard-faced man in a battered leather jacket, wan undoubtedly the leader of the small group. He had a certain air about him, as if he was surrounded by a strange sort of energy.

He was followed by another man, who wore a long greatcoat and a huge grin. He was handsome in a too-good-to-be-true way; his eyes were bright blue, he had neat, dark hair, and he was quite tall.

The girl who followed him was no match for either of her companions in height, but what she lacked in stature, she made up for in beauty. She couldn't have been older than nineteen years, and her short blonde hair whipped about her face in the seemingly constant breeze. Slightly cynical brown eyes regarded the world from beneath that blonde mane, and there was a half smile on her lips.

"So where are we?" Rose Tyler asked, catching up to the Doctor.

"Azara Prime." Jack Harkness answered, "biggest planet in the Azara system, and the only habitable one, well to us anyway."

"To us…?" Rose queried, head on one side.

"As in unless you want to grow gills and scales, you're better off here." The Doctor put in. He was grinning like a kid in a toyshop, staring around at all the wonders of the planet. "Been a while since I was last here." He commented dryly, "probably a good thing..."

They eventually reached a city of sorts, and it was bustling. Rose was at first reminded of the Roman cities she'd learnt about in primary school, only there was one major difference. The people here were not humans, dressed in togas and tunics, but odd looking creatures, with bluish skin.

One of the natives now beckoned to them from the steps of a temple. She was a strange woman, and her age was impossible to tell. She had almond shaped eyes that were the same mauve as the planet's sky. When they went over to her, she spoke.

"This is the temple of Azar. I am priestess Anik" He voice was rich and musical, "will you enter, and make an offering to our goddess? It is customary for visitors to do thus."

"Yeah, sure. Why not?" the Doctor was all enthusiasm.

"This way, please."

They followed the Azaran into the temple and down many long passages. It was dark and cool in the stone corridors, and their footsteps echoed ominously off the smooth floor. At last they reached the temple proper. It was a massive cave-like hall, the soaring ceiling reaching high above their heads, and its walls decorated with all manner of ornate paintings. Everywhere, white-robed priestesses and priests hurried about, cleaning, resetting offerings on low shrines, and a select group of woman clothed in grey were tending a much larger, more central shrine.

"The shrine of Azar." Their guide explained to them, "You may go into the temple, but do not touch the shrine, and show full respect for the goddess and those who worship here."

Nodding, the Doctor, Rose and Jack moved off into the temple.

Rose went off by herself, and was examining a low shrine with a strangely familiar carving of a police call box (not that she'd known the Azarans knew what they were), when she heard the scream.

Dashing in the direction of the cry, Rose was positive that she'd find the Doctor, and probably Jack, there. Sure enough, the Doctor and Jack were standing in front of the 'grey priestesses', looking confused. One of the priestesses had her hands over her face, and was sobbing with shock.

"What happened?" Rose asked, confused, "I heard the scream. Is she alright?"

Ignoring the Doctor's cry of 'Rose, wait!" she knelt down next to the sobbing woman.

"What's wrong?" she asked softly. "What's your name?"

A tear-stained blue face stared up at her, and Rose realized with a shock that the Azaran wasn't that old. She looked like a young teen still.  
"Jekka, my name is Jekkka." she whispered "I…I was laying new offerings to the goddess, and those two came over. At first I thought they were just like the other visitors, and I went back to my work. My mind was wandering, and I could feel something…" she trailed off, sobbing again.  
Rose looked at the Doctor for help, and he mouthed, 'telepathy' to her. Well, that explained that.

"What?" Rose asked gently, "what did you 'feel'?"

"I felt so many emotions between them," Jekka pointed the Jack and the Doctor, "love, passion, lust… all these and more. I...I will never feel that, not as a preistess here." She looked ready to burst into tears again, and Rose quickly got herself out of that situation. She'd never been good with sad people.

"Come on you two," Rose said ominously, "we need to talk." She led them out of the temple

Jack and the Doctor exchanged scared glances.

"Reckon we really stood in it this time." The Doctor muttered.

"You never know," Jack said with a wink, "she might want to play naked hide-and-seek in the TARDIS."

"I heard that!" Rose called over her shoulder.


End file.
